A
anon_is9z1n0h3zblb
Guest
Unfortunately he works for ESPN now, so not nearly as much detail as he has when he worked for SB Nation
https://www.espn.com/college-footba...7/college-football-offseason-preview-mac-east
Kent State
Head coach: Sean Lewis (9-16, third year)
2019: 7-6 (5-3), 105th in SP+
2020 projection: 4-8 (3-5), 112th in SP+
Top returning players: QB Dustin Crum, WR Isaiah McKoy, S KJ Sherald, ILB Manny Lawrence-Burke, RG Nathan Monnin
The best comeback story of 2019 ended in a green smoothie bath. That might be the most college football sentence you'll read all year.
Kent State was on the doorstep of a 3-7 record, trailing Buffalo by three touchdowns midway through the fourth quarter. The Golden Flashes then pulled off something incredible, not only scoring 24 point in eight minutes to beat the Bulls in my No. 18 game of 2019, but also eking by Ball State and EMU to qualify for just their third bowl ever. And in the Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl, they scored their first bowl win, 51-41 over Utah State. Bath time.
It's an incredible timeline: Late on the evening of Nov. 14, Kent State's season was all but over, and coach Sean Lewis had little to show for his two years in northeastern Ohio. Just over a month later, he was in charge of a surefire program on the rise. And Lewis had bought himself some leeway in case his Golden Flashes couldn't quite maneuver through an absolutely ridiculous schedule in his third year.
The best thing I can say about Kent State's schedule in 2020 is that it will provide plenty of exposure. The comeback, bowl win and smoothie bath will inevitably get shown as secondary plot footage as the Golden Flashes are, according to SP+, losing by 39 to Penn State, 27 to Kentucky and 42 to Alabama. Assuming they get by Kennesaw State, a solid FCS program, in Week 2, they'll enter conference play needing to go at least 5-3 to bowl again. Doable? Certainly. They did it last year, after all. But they'll need to pull an upset or two to make that happen.
The key to sustaining 2019's late surge: sustaining Dustin Crum's and Isaiah McKoy's late surge -- the pass-catch duo caught fire. Crum went from averaging 11.1 yards per completion to 14.2, and he went from 8.8 non-sack carries per game to 12.8 while still averaging nearly 7 yards per carry. McKoy, meanwhile: 13.1 yards per catch over the first nine games, 20.3 over the last four.
Outside of McKoy, Crum will be looking at some different faces in the skill corps. The next-leading receiver is senior Keshunn Abram, and he caught just eight balls. A lot could be asked of young receivers like Ja'Shaun Poke and Dante Cephas. Two of the top three running backs are gone, too, although junior Xavier Williams and sophomore Joachim Bangda (combined: 792 rushing and receiving yards) should be just fine, and they'll have an experienced line in front of them.
Defensive coordinator Tom Kaufman's general approach in 2019 was to bend as long as possible and hope that a defensive back eventually made a play. It worked at times -- safeties KJ Sherald and Qwuantrezz Knight combined for 15.5 tackles for loss, 11 passes defensed, and even 20 run stuffs, while corners Elvis Hines and Jamal Parker picked off three passes and broke up another 17. Knight, Parker, and safety Akeam Peters are gone, though, which means that a front seven dealing with its own turnover (three of the top four linemen are gone) will have to step up a bit.
Inside linebackers Manny Lawrence-Burke and Cepeda Phillips (combined: 11.5 TFLs, 19 run stuffs) are solid, but the line is dramatically undersized, as it was last year -- aside from 320-pound sophomore nose tackle Buddha Jones, none of the five other experienced linemen returning weigh in at more than 258. It's not surprising, then, that Kent State ranked 119th in success rate allowed and gave up 4-plus yards on 54% of opponents' carries (125th). You could push them around, and there's nothing saying you won't be able to this year, too. Recruiting hasn't solved this issue just yet.
There's also turnover to deal with in what was an excellent special teams unit. The Flashes were 14th in Special Teams SP+ thanks to the trio of punter Derek Adams, kicker Matthew Trickett, and kick returner Jamal Parker, but only Trickett returns.
There is only one goal for 2020: eking out another bowl bid. That might be hard to do. But Lewis' relentless energy and positivity bore fruit last November and December, and while Crum and other key contributors will be seniors, he's going to be relying quite a bit on his sophomore class as well. And those sophs will become upperclassman leaders in 2021 and beyond. The future's still pretty bright.
https://www.espn.com/college-footba...7/college-football-offseason-preview-mac-east
Kent State
Head coach: Sean Lewis (9-16, third year)
2019: 7-6 (5-3), 105th in SP+
2020 projection: 4-8 (3-5), 112th in SP+
Top returning players: QB Dustin Crum, WR Isaiah McKoy, S KJ Sherald, ILB Manny Lawrence-Burke, RG Nathan Monnin
The best comeback story of 2019 ended in a green smoothie bath. That might be the most college football sentence you'll read all year.
Kent State was on the doorstep of a 3-7 record, trailing Buffalo by three touchdowns midway through the fourth quarter. The Golden Flashes then pulled off something incredible, not only scoring 24 point in eight minutes to beat the Bulls in my No. 18 game of 2019, but also eking by Ball State and EMU to qualify for just their third bowl ever. And in the Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl, they scored their first bowl win, 51-41 over Utah State. Bath time.
It's an incredible timeline: Late on the evening of Nov. 14, Kent State's season was all but over, and coach Sean Lewis had little to show for his two years in northeastern Ohio. Just over a month later, he was in charge of a surefire program on the rise. And Lewis had bought himself some leeway in case his Golden Flashes couldn't quite maneuver through an absolutely ridiculous schedule in his third year.
The best thing I can say about Kent State's schedule in 2020 is that it will provide plenty of exposure. The comeback, bowl win and smoothie bath will inevitably get shown as secondary plot footage as the Golden Flashes are, according to SP+, losing by 39 to Penn State, 27 to Kentucky and 42 to Alabama. Assuming they get by Kennesaw State, a solid FCS program, in Week 2, they'll enter conference play needing to go at least 5-3 to bowl again. Doable? Certainly. They did it last year, after all. But they'll need to pull an upset or two to make that happen.
The key to sustaining 2019's late surge: sustaining Dustin Crum's and Isaiah McKoy's late surge -- the pass-catch duo caught fire. Crum went from averaging 11.1 yards per completion to 14.2, and he went from 8.8 non-sack carries per game to 12.8 while still averaging nearly 7 yards per carry. McKoy, meanwhile: 13.1 yards per catch over the first nine games, 20.3 over the last four.
Outside of McKoy, Crum will be looking at some different faces in the skill corps. The next-leading receiver is senior Keshunn Abram, and he caught just eight balls. A lot could be asked of young receivers like Ja'Shaun Poke and Dante Cephas. Two of the top three running backs are gone, too, although junior Xavier Williams and sophomore Joachim Bangda (combined: 792 rushing and receiving yards) should be just fine, and they'll have an experienced line in front of them.
Defensive coordinator Tom Kaufman's general approach in 2019 was to bend as long as possible and hope that a defensive back eventually made a play. It worked at times -- safeties KJ Sherald and Qwuantrezz Knight combined for 15.5 tackles for loss, 11 passes defensed, and even 20 run stuffs, while corners Elvis Hines and Jamal Parker picked off three passes and broke up another 17. Knight, Parker, and safety Akeam Peters are gone, though, which means that a front seven dealing with its own turnover (three of the top four linemen are gone) will have to step up a bit.
Inside linebackers Manny Lawrence-Burke and Cepeda Phillips (combined: 11.5 TFLs, 19 run stuffs) are solid, but the line is dramatically undersized, as it was last year -- aside from 320-pound sophomore nose tackle Buddha Jones, none of the five other experienced linemen returning weigh in at more than 258. It's not surprising, then, that Kent State ranked 119th in success rate allowed and gave up 4-plus yards on 54% of opponents' carries (125th). You could push them around, and there's nothing saying you won't be able to this year, too. Recruiting hasn't solved this issue just yet.
There's also turnover to deal with in what was an excellent special teams unit. The Flashes were 14th in Special Teams SP+ thanks to the trio of punter Derek Adams, kicker Matthew Trickett, and kick returner Jamal Parker, but only Trickett returns.
There is only one goal for 2020: eking out another bowl bid. That might be hard to do. But Lewis' relentless energy and positivity bore fruit last November and December, and while Crum and other key contributors will be seniors, he's going to be relying quite a bit on his sophomore class as well. And those sophs will become upperclassman leaders in 2021 and beyond. The future's still pretty bright.
